Grains of Sand

“ He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord ” —Proverbs 18:22, NIV One might tend to be a little cynical about this verse considering, among other things, today’s divorce rate. You might wonder if Solomon pens these words with some longing in his heart. The Scriptures say that he loved many women, and none of them seem to stand out as a blessing to his life. From the historical record it seems that the king’s many wives led him into idolatry and brought God’s judgment down on his head. If we read the Song of Songs, or the Song of Solomon, as the book is sometimes titled, we wonder if somewhere among all those ladies in his life, there might have been one who was different from all the rest though many take the Song of Songs to be allegorical, describing God’s love for Israel and/or the love of Christ for His church. Whether it was wishful thinking or true love, Solomon’s statement reminds the readers of God’s intent for marriage. At the very begin...

Some people groan, or grimace, when those of us who actually went through "the good old days" mention them. It's not fair. While we have to admit that not everything in "the good old days" was all that good, there are some things that were good and should always be preserved. As I read this morning, I could empathize with David when he said: " So my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed. I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands of done, I spread out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land " —Psalm 143:4-6, NIV. The key to distinguishing between the stuff from the past that is better left behind and those things from the past that desperately need to be preserved appears in that little phrase: " I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done… " It was God who taught his people what the trappings of respect for him should...

Okay, I confess I was going to ignore these verses. But let me put them in along with a picture and you can apply them as the Spirit so moves you. " Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord…as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything…husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to make her holy…and to present her to himself as a radiant church " —Ephesians 5:22, 24-25. It would have been helpful if Paul had changed the order of the verses, but gentleman that he was, it was women first. In any case, I still contend that it wouldn't be hard at all to submit to a man who loved me as much as Christ loved the church: a man committed to helping me be the best I can be even to giving his life to accomplish it. I'm taking applications.